The union baron accused of Commons seat rigging is at the centre of a new scandal after a former mistress who gave birth to his child when he was married was given a top job in his union.

Unite union leader Len McCluskey’s ex-lover, Jennie Formby, was last month given the £75,000-a-year post of Unite political director, with the task of getting more union supporters picked as Labour Parliamentary candidates.

She won the job after leading the public defence of Left-winger Mr McCluskey, dubbed ‘Red Len’ by critics, who was accused of trying to rig a Labour selection contest in Falkirk, Scotland, for another union ally and friend, Karie Murphy.

Unite union leader Len McCluskey, pictured right,
has given a key £75,000-a-year job to Jennie Formby, pictured left, who gave birth to his lovechild in 1991

The disclosure is deeply embarrassing
for Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is desperate to counter Tory claims
he is in the unions’ pockets. He has to face Ms Formby at meetings of
Labour’s national executive council.

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Ms Formby effectively acts as Mr
McCluskey’s spokesman at the NEC. At a meeting, she challenged Mr
Miliband, who was present, head-on over his attempt to weaken Labour’s
ties with their union paymasters.

Unite helped Mr Miliband become Labour
leader in 2010 and has since given Labour £7.5 million from
subscriptions paid by its 1.4 million members. Last night a Unite
spokesman said: ‘All appointments are authorised and ratified by the
union’s executive council.’ He declined to comment further.

Certificate: How the birth of Jennie Formby's child was recorded in 1991

Official documents show that in 1991,
Ms Formby gave birth to a child by Mr McCluskey, who was married at the
time and living in a union-subsidised home, while his wife stayed in his
native Liverpool. The Unite general secretary is named as the father.

The disclosure that Ms Formby has been
given such a powerful and lucrative post in the union, follows a series
of allegations against Mr McCluskey and his union and Labour Party
allies, including cronyism.

Union insiders fear the disclosure of his love child with Ms Formby will lead to claims of a conflict of interest.

A senior Unite official told The Mail
on Sunday: ‘The existence of McCluskey and Formby’s child is known to a
handful of senior figures in the union but not to its members. Many earn
a pittance compared to McCluskey and Formby and will be shocked nobody
told them about the connection. It helps critics who say the union is
run by a clique.’

Although Ms Formby’s appointment was
the decision of Unite’s executive committee, a well-placed source said:
‘With most senior appointments like this, the general secretary makes it
clear what he wants and usually gets his way.’

Union officials say that while Ms
Formby is widely regarded as able, her closeness to Mr McCluskey has
been an asset. ‘She has always enjoyed strong support from Len and he is
so dominant in Unite you can’t get far without it,’ said one.

Mr McCluskey receives pay and perks
worth around £135,000 a year from Unite. The disclosure of his love
child with his union’s political director is the latest episode in the
Labour seat-rigging row.

The Unite leader is accused of
breaking Labour rules to try to get union-backed candidates picked to
contest Parliamentary seats for Labour.

Leader Ed Miliband has handed to
police an internal report into claims of foul play by Mr McCluskey, 62,
and his supporters in a selection battle in Falkirk.

It is thought the affair between Mr
McCluskey and Ms Formby started when they met through their union
activities.

In the 1990s, both worked for the Transport and General
Workers Union.

The union merged with Amicus to form Unite in 2007, and
three years later Mr McCluskey became general secretary.

Ms Formby also worked her way through
the ranks at the TGWU.

But her big break came last month when she won
the key post of political director. Predecessor Steve Hart was forced
out in a power struggle.

It is not a
criticism that has been made of Ms Formby, 53, a steadfast supporter of
Mr McCluskey.

Three years after they had a child, Mr
McCluskey divorced wife Ann.

But instead of setting up home with Ms
Formby, he moved another lover, Paula Lace, into his union-subsidised
London home.

Ms Formby (then known as Sandle, her maiden name), married
Frederick Formby in 2004 and took his name.

A secret to all but a
handful of close friends, her relationship with McCluskey is formally
recorded on the birth certificate of the child they had together 22
years ago.

It shows that in December 1991, Ms
Formby gave birth to a child by Mr McCluskey.

The father’s ‘name and
surname’ is recorded as ‘Leonard David McCluskey’ – Mr McCluskey’s full
name; his ‘place of birth’ is given as ‘Liverpool,’ the union leader’s
home city; and under ‘occupation,’ it states ‘trade union official’.

The father’s address is listed as
‘Wellfield Avenue, London N10.’ Mr McCluskey bought the home with a
cut-price union loan.

He has since sold it. Ms Formby is listed on the
register as Jennifer Sandle and is also described as a ‘union official’.

The child was given the middle name ‘McCluskey’ in honour of its
father.

The Mail on Sunday has decided not to publish the full details of the child, now an adult, provided in the same register.

In her new role at Unite, Ms Formby
will be expected to get as many pro-union supporters picked as Labour
Parliamentary candidates as possible.

Unite has a list of 40 candidates
it hopes will enter the Commons in the next Election, due in 2015.

It is certain to bring her into close
contact with Mr McCluskey, who is known to take a close interest in the
selection of such candidates.

Allegations that Unite resorted to
cheating to try to get one of Mr McCluskey’s allies, union official
Karie Murphy, selected as Labour candidate in Falkirk sparked a battle
between McCluskey and Ed Miliband.

Mr McCluskey’s critics say the
Falkirk scandal has shown the union is plotting to increase its
stranglehold over Labour.

Mr McCluskey and Ms Formby claim they
are the victims of a plot by former supporters of Tony Blair, who want
to cut the Party’s ties with the unions.

MILIBAND IS SHOCKED AS UNION BOSS MARY FLEXES HER MUSCLES

Tattoo: President of the GMB Mary Turner

Ed Miliband was forced to sit in silence as Britain’s most senior woman union leader read the riot act to him for trying to curb the power of trade unions over the Labour party.

Former dinner lady Mary Turner, president of the GMB, told him Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party, would be horrified by the way Mr Miliband was treating the unions. Mrs Turner, who once had her union’s name emblazoned on her arm, rounded on Mr Miliband at the party’s ruling national executive committee last week.

‘Keir Hardie would be turning in his grave if he knew what you were doing,’ Mrs Turner told Mr Miliband, according to witnesses. ‘You should be proud of the historic link with unions and fight to defend it.’

Witnesses say Mr Miliband was visibly shocked by the onslaught from Mrs Turner, whose union pays £1.4 million a year to Labour. Her attack followed his attempt to curb union influence after claims Unite tried to rig a Labour Parliamentary selection contest in Falkirk, Scotland.

Last year, Mrs Turner also gave Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls a dressing down for refusing to reverse George Osborne’s public sector pay hiatus.